


The First Day

by Absinthiana



Series: They Who Stand [3]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: Character Study, Childhood, Childhood Friends, First Meetings, Gen, Highever, Pre-Dragon Age: Origins
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-17
Updated: 2017-12-17
Packaged: 2019-02-16 06:35:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13048506
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Absinthiana/pseuds/Absinthiana
Summary: Before he was Ser Gilmore, Knight of Highever, he was a humble but clever squire.Told in Gilmore's words.





	The First Day

"Ordinarily," says His Lordship, his voice grand and amiable, "I'd have my son Fergus show you two fellows about, but he's watching for his guest, so you'll have to make do with me."

We scramble all over ourselves, me and Rupert, not wanting to give offence. His Lordship laughs us off and we follow him down the echoing stone hallway. Father said His Lordship tried to keep good humour with his men all during the war, and he’d probably be much the same now that we’re at peace. I think Father’s right. Squiring for such a lord shouldn't be a hardship. The Chantry Brother, well. He's got the look of a proper scholar about him. The sort that don't hold with horseplay from bored squires. 

"Sadly, I don't know where everything is. But if you have questions, you’ll be spending your mornings in lessons with Brother Aldous..."

"Of course," says this Chantry Brother Aldous. Says it plainly to His Lordship, not sucking up, so I believe him. "Questions can lead to wisdom. Even ones about the location of the dubbing wax.”

We round the corner, coming out under open sky, near the door to the castle’s Chantry. There, a short girl in a blue frock with seashells stuck in her wild hair is standing barefoot atop a stone bench, plucking out a song on a plank of wood with strings stuck to it. She’s the queerest thing I’ve ever seen.

"Ah, Pup," His Lordship calls to the girl like she’s not peculiar, "Come meet Gilmore and Rupert. They've come from Bournshire to squire here for a few years. Boys, this is my daughter, Minna."

Me and Rupert bow, low and proper, like Mother showed us we should to a lady.

So she hops down from her perch and curtsies back at us like we were real knights already!

“And do you know where Bournshire is, young lady?” Seems this Chantry Brother Aldous  don’t hold with silliness from girls, either. He might not be so bad.

Her Little Ladyship answers, quick as you please, “it’s in the arling of South Reach, north of the West Road.”

Brother Aldous harrumphs. "I'm glad some of my lessons don't disappear into that yawning chasm between your ears, young lady."

She doesn't take him personal. Maybe that's the trick with him. Instead, she smiles at us, bright and true. “Welcome to Highever.”

She's not pretty.

She's a little younger than Rupert, all brown curls and bony elbows. She can’t hold a candle to Rupert’s cousin Moira who's blonde and seventeen and steps out with the cooper's son. Moira fills out her bodice better than any girl alive. I already miss washing days.

Lady Minna's got nothing in her bodice but her ribcage. But she does have lots of queer notions in her head, including every quick route through the castle, the safest time to pinch sweets from the kitchen, how to avoid ever getting the switch from Brother Aldous and the fastest way to curry a horse. She’s like a bird, chirping at us all the way down to the bailey.

I’ve never thought much about girls. Except on washing days. But now I wonder: why is it that Moira puts on airs (and did even before her bodice got tight), but Lady Minna doesn’t? For all her chirping, I don’t think being Little Ladyship’s escort will ever be a hardship.

We can see Lord Fergus from where we are. Little Ladyship points him out like he’s the grandest fellow in Ferelden. She shouts and waves, and he tries to ignore her and look very important while he’s waiting on his guest, but he’s got His Lordship’s humour, and soon he calls us over with a laugh and a smile. He’s no older than me, but I think I’m bigger from years chopping firewood. His Lordship’s already making plans with one of his knights to get us both sparring.

The gates open.

Lord Fergus' guest is, of course, another lordling. A few years older than him. Hair so black, it's nearly blue. Childhood’s melting away from this one's face, especially his nose. I hope for his sake that’s his father’s billhook-beak he’s wearing. He looks haughty, but that’s only the nose, because he’s off his fancy horse in a wink and clapping Lord Fergus on the back with a big toothy grin on his face.

Chirping Little Ladyship is suddenly quiet.

She's peeking from behind His Lordship's elbow. Shy. Strange.

And then I realize.

It’ll be years before she’ll ever fill out her bodice. Years before I’m more than a squire. But I can see right now that this boy with the billhook-beak is all His Lordship’s daughter wants in the whole world. She might not even know it. But I do.

I want to be a good knight. For my family and honour. But also for His Lordship and his family. So I hope Lord Fergus' friend will be a worthy man, because a knight must defend his Lord’s daughter. And I intend to.

**Author's Note:**

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